Wentworth Golf Club,Virginia Water

The autumnal storm of 1990 severely affected the South of England, many areas of historic woodland were lost to gale force winds. Badly affected by the storm was the Wentworth Golf Club in its picturesque setting of Virginia Water. The storms took place shortly before the PGA World Masters Tournament and a massive operation was called for to remove fallen trees and to bring the course up to tournament condition.

Whilst the tournament was playable, it was evident that the concentration of spectators and hospitality access, made searching demands upon the waterlogged grounds.

A particular problem was the construction of the tented village for hospitality that had hitherto been positioned in a wooded copse, with build up and breakdown access being gained by temporary excavation mats. Apart from the problems encountered for this particular tournament, this format proved to be costly for each event as well as calling for landscape reinstatement as grass died back under the mats.

A solution was achieved by the construction of a dedicated tented village area adjacent to the West Course 18th Green, with an access that was gained along the side of the adjacent East Course 18th Fairway.

To maintain a green environment, the GRASSCRETE system was selected and in particular the type GC2sc, that would cater for the 40’ articulated truck loads that would enter over the concentrated build and break down period.

The construction of the roadway proved to be challenging in itself, with the route taking it past a lake the ground conditions included sections of weak bearing alluvial soils. The challenge was however met by Grass Concrete’s laying division and the new tented village site was ready by the next tournament date.